When Populism Wins: Lotte Mart to Close All 21 Beijing Stores

原创 Charles L. theBeijinger

The populist backlash against last year's THAAD controversy has come to its final conclusion as South Korean retailer Lotte Mart announced it will close all of its 21 stores located in Beijing, reported China Daily.

After a year of diminishing returns, Lotte Mart announced yesterday it will turn over its remaining Beijing stores to Chinese retailer Wumei Holdings for USD 230 million, giving the Wu-Mart store operator an 87 percent stake.

The sale will shut down Lotte Mart's 10 large-scale hypermarkets and 11 smaller-scale neighborhood supermarkets in the Beijing area.

Lotte Mart was hit with a Chinese backlash last spring for its role in a land swap deal in which the company provided a golf course to the South Korean government for the purpose of a protective missile system. While the outrage manifested in travel boycotts and restaurant bans, Lotte Mart bore the brunt of China's anger in which a consumer boycott and "surprise" fire drill inspections culminated in the temporary closure of 23 of its stores.

Even though parent company Lotte Group saw its annual overseas sales revenue slump 7.8 percent last year, the company had said it was committed to keeping its stores afloat in China. However, the inevitable end of the company's share of the Chinese market was signaled last September when it asked Goldman Sachs to broker the sale of its Chinese stores.

Including its Beijing stores, there are 110 Lotte Marts in China.

As much as last year's politics continue to be relevant today, Thursday's announcement happens to have come immediately before today's historical thawing of tensions between North and South Korea whereby the two countries have remarkably agreed to sign a peace treaty later this year.

And as Wu-Mart is set to rapidly expand in the Beijing market, this year will also see the influx of some 30 Alibaba Hema supermarkets along with the opening of hundreds of convenience stores. And even as the city is set to open dozens of new wet markets, the growing competition of online food delivery platforms threatens to boil over this year.

Images: CGTN.com